Texas voters delivered a stinging rebuke on Tuesday to incumbent Republicans who stonewalled Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) efforts to enact school choice in the Lone Star State. It is a message Republicans everywhere should hear.
In the primary races for seats in the Texas House of Representatives, 10 Republican incumbents who helped block school choice legislation were either defeated outright or now face a runoff election.
The results are a vindication for the governor, who took the unusual step of endorsing challengers to sitting lawmakers of his own party. Next year, Texas will probably become the most populous in the nation with universal school choice.
The margin by which many lawmakers lost is a warning from voters that others in Republican-controlled states should heed. Voters will no longer tolerate GOP legislators who do the bidding of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and other union leaders. They need to understand that parents will henceforth refuse to let their children be enslaved in failing public schools. They demand educational freedom, as they should.
In Texas House District 60, incumbent state Rep. Glenn Rogers was obliterated by challenger Mike Olcott by 26 points. In House District 11, longtime incumbent state Rep. Travis Clardy received a meager 37% as his opponent, Joanne Shofner, romped to victory with 63%.
Other ousted representatives included District 2 state Rep. Jill Dutton, District 55 state Rep. Hugh Shine, District 122 state Rep. Steve Allison, District 18 state Rep. Ernest Bailes, and District 62 state Rep. Reggie Smith. Additionally, anti-school choice state Reps. John Kuempel, Justin Holland, DeWayne Burns, and Gary VanDeaver face Republican voters again in runoff races where no candidate secured a majority.
Abbott’s success is notable, but he is not the first Republican governor to expend political capital to defeat members of his own party beholden to teachers unions. In 2022, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), after anti-school choice legislators defeated her bill, wrote the playbook that Abbott followed in Texas. She endorsed primary challengers to each anti-school choice lawmaker, voters took her advice, and in January 2023, Iowa passed universal school choice.
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Iowa and Texas Republican voters show that lawmakers who side with the teachers unions, seek their endorsement, and take their PAC money are asking for an early end to their political careers. School choice is now a litmus test for Republican candidates.
State lawmakers in Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia are considering similar legislation. In all of them, Republicans have unified control of the state government. The only obstacle to school choice is Republican recalcitrance. It needs to end, or voters should throw them out.
It’s a good start now let’s start the fight to eliminate the Dept. of Education.